Showing posts with label 3b. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 3b. Show all posts

Chapter 36: Harrington's Pub


"Do you still make that fine dark ale?"
After a short stop in Baker Street and a delicious dinner in Kensington, we made our way west to Harrington's Pub in the Twickenham Road near Kew.

We stepped inside shortly after 7:30, and within seconds, every conversation in the pub had ground to a halt. Sherlock Holmes smiled and nodded at a few of the regulars while he made his way to the bar, and I followed behind him.

"You're looking as sharp as ever, Holmes!" said the man behind the bar, shaking my friend by the hand.

"You're not doing too badly yourself," replied Holmes. "This is my friend and colleague, Dr. Watson," he added. "Watson, meet my friend and former schoolmate, Michael Harrington."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Watson," Harrington said, shaking my hand. "What will you drink?"

"Do you still make that fine dark ale?" asked the detective.

"Indeed we do," replied Harrington. "Do you think Dr. Watson would enjoy a glass?"

"I wouldn't be a bit surprised," said Holmes, and I smiled eagerly.

The regulars, seeing us warmly welcomed, resumed their interrupted chatter as Harrington filled two large glasses and placed them on the bar. Holmes and I sat on tall stools and tasted the ale, which was quite excellent.

A few minutes later Harrington approached and whispered briefly to Holmes, who replied in similar fashion, after which our host departed momentarily.

"Come this way, gentlemen," he said when he returned, leading us through a heavy oaken door, down a short corridor and into a comfortably-furnished office.

"The room you normally use is being renovated," he said to my friend, "but I trust this one will be suitable for your meeting."

"It will suit us very well indeed," replied Holmes. "What can we pay you for the ale?"

Harrington laughed heartily and clapped Holmes on the shoulder. "It's a pleasure to see you again, Holmes," he said. "You're welcome to a glass of ale anytime!"

"Make yourself comfortable, Dr. Watson," Harrington added, turning toward me. "I'll show your guest in when he arrives."

"Thank you very much," said Holmes. Harrington smiled and returned to the bar.

"I'm very intrigued by the scenario you described on the train," I said when our host had left. "But you said you had other hypotheses, and I'm wondering what they might be."

"It's always possible that the stories in the papers are incorrect," replied Holmes. "The waiters at Patisserie Valerie could have mistaken someone else for Gareth Williams. The reporters could be making up stories. Or the police could be leaking false information. These three scenarios are not impossible, and they would not be unprecedented, but at the moment I see them as fairly improbable."

"What else do you have, then?" I asked.

"The other hypotheses are based on the assumption that the stories are correct," he replied, "but they give the pastry-shop encounters different interpretations. Perhaps they really were chance meetings, and Gareth and the mysterious young couple were truly surprised to find that their paths had crossed."

"Do you really think that could have happened?" I asked. "Repeated meetings in the same shop with people who found him at the back of the room, without ever ordering anything? That is very strange, don't you think?"

"It does push the limit of credibility, does it not?" replied Holmes. "I see it as very improbable indeed. But, strictly speaking, it is still possible.

"Improbable things can happen," he continued. "Actually, improbable things happen all the time. But impossible things can never happen, and it is important to recognize the difference.

"It is also possible," he added, "that the meetings were prearranged and the 'surprise' was faked, but the subject of the meetings was more or less innocent, having nothing to do with Gareth's work or the chain of events that led to his death."

"But if the meetings were innocent," I asked, "why the subterfuge? Why would they pretend to be surprised? Why wouldn't they just sit down at his table?"

"You're quite right, Watson," said Holmes. "I see this as more probable than the 'chance meeting' hypothesis, but not by very much."

"Has anything else come to mind?" I inquired.

"It is also possible that the meetings were not entirely innocent, but that Gareth never mentioned anything about them to his 'best friend,' and that she and her husband were transferred for entirely unrelated reasons."

"But then why would the Brits refuse to let the FBI interview her?" I asked.

"Indeed," answered Holmes. "Difficult questions lie in every direction."

Just then we heard a sharp knock at the door. "Yes!" called Holmes, and Michael Harrington's face appeared.

"Your guest is here, Mr. Holmes," said our host.

"Please show him in," replied Holmes.

Chapter 37: Off The Case


"Tell us what's been happening."
Buckingham Slate appeared in the doorway and Sherlock Holmes greeted him warmly as Harrington departed. Slate seemed subdued as he shook hands with Holmes and me in turn.

"Please sit down, Bucky," said Holmes, motioning toward a heavy wooden armchair near the desk, "and tell us what's been happening."

"I'm dreadfully sorry, sir," replied Slate, "but I am no longer in need of your assistance, and I hope I haven't wasted too much of your time."

"No longer in need?" cried Holmes in amazement. "Do you mean to say you've solved the crime?"

"No, sir," replied Slate. "I mean to say I've been taken off the case."

"When?" asked Holmes.

"Saturday afternoon, sir," replied the Scotland Yard man. "I was just finishing my shift -- three o'clock it must have been -- when I was called in to see my supervisor and told we have plenty of officers on this case already, and other cases to solve, and I've been reassigned to a new case-load starting Monday -- that was today, sir.

"I tried to put the ad in the paper as soon as I found out, but they couldn't run it until Sunday morning, and you said twenty-four hours, and that's why it said 'Monday' in the ad -- as peculiar a message as I've ever sent, sir, or seen! if you don't mind my saying so.

"But it all seemed so slow, sir. I wish I could have informed you sooner, and I hope I haven't started you running around on my behalf, since it would have been a poor, pointless mission indeed."

"You have done nothing to apologize for, Bucky," said my friend when Slate had finished speaking. "Surely you are not in a position to choose which cases you work on. But the timing of this decision seems curious. Did your supervisor give you any reason to suspect that you were reassigned because you had come to see me?"

"No, sir," replied Slate. "This was not about you specifically, sir."

"It was about something more general?" asked my friend.

"It may have been," said Bucky. "It may have been about nothing. It's difficult to tell.

"I was unhappy with the lack of progress. And I made no secret about that. There's a fine line, sir, between pressing for better results in a way that is seen as beneficial to morale and good for the team, and doing it in a way that is seen as whining, or sowing dissent."

"You've been on the force for a long time, Bucky," said Holmes. "Surely you can 'press for better results' in a positive way if you want to."

"I may have misspoken, sir," replied Slate. "It's not that I carried myself any differently on this case than I have done on other cases in the past. It's not that at all, sir. The difference is more subtle, and it has to do with the case itself."

"Do continue," said my friend.

"Some cases are simply not to be solved, sir. I can't put it any better than that. The case is on the books as 'open,' and the investigation is classified as 'active,' but nothing is really happening, and if you've got a bit of a sixth sense, you get the feeling that the higher-ups want it that way. After a while, there comes a time when 'active' can become 'inactive' without too much political fallout, and you just know that this is what was 'supposed' to happen.

"Now you need, I called it a 'sixth sense,' and you need some experience, too. To younger officers and those more inclined to 'routine,' the smooth passage of certain files from 'hot' to 'cold' rings no alarm bells whatsoever. But to a few others, such as myself -- all old hands, by the way -- certain cases seem destined to go unsolved, 'predestined' you might almost say. This is one of them.

"And to 'press for better results' on a case that is 'not to be solved' -- it's not a wise career move, sir.

"Oh well, what the hell?" concluded Slate. "It's all water under the bridge now. I'm sorry if I have put you to any trouble, even though, as you say, there was nothing I could have done about it."

"You may rest assured," said Holmes, "that Dr. Watson and I have gone to no particular trouble on your behalf, although your surprise visit did spark a bit of an adventure. Still, I am intrigued by the timing of your reassignment; that is to say: they must have known you were unhappy about the lack of progress in the investigation for quite some time, no? As you say, that was no secret. But you came to see me last Friday, and then on Saturday -- the very next day -- you were taken off the case. Do you believe there is any connection between these two singular events?"

"I cannot say, sir," replied Slate. "The timing is interesting in another way, as well. The funeral of Gareth Williams also took place last Friday, and now the police expect less of the spotlight, one might say.

"The Chief Inspector mentioned the funeral, and the lower profile this case will now take. But she didn't say anything about my coming to see you, nor about my dissatisfaction with the investigation. Of course, she doesn't have to. Nor would she, sir. She's very, shall we say, polished, sir."

"She certainly is," agreed Holmes. "And, as you say, she can reassign staff from one case to another with no explanation. Tactically speaking, she is quite correct to do so in this instance, regardless of her motive. So we cannot draw any firm inferences from the timing, which may be coincidence. Still ..."

"What is it, sir?" inquired Slate.

"You arrived at our Baker Street flat in disguise," said Holmes. "Why? Two men followed you. Why?"

"I wore the disguise," replied Slate, "because I had a strong, almost eerie feeling I was being followed, and I didn't want to lead anyone to you. But I felt I could wait no longer before coming to see you, sir. I was impatient about the investigation -- very impatient indeed.

"Still, I took six consecutive left turns on my way to Baker Street, sir, and I didn't see anyone behind me. So I truly cannot account for the men in the doorway. I haven't been threatened, or harassed, in any way since I last saw you, not that I wish to belittle the precautions you have taken."

"It may seem a small point, Bucky," said my friend, "but I am trying to gauge whether I would be putting your life in danger if I were to ask the question that is foremost in my mind."

"Surely there is no risk of that," replied Slate. "Ask me any question you like, sir."

"It is unfortunate that you no longer need our help with this case," replied Sherlock Holmes, "but it needn't be a total loss.

"Would you be inclined to help us?"

Chapter 38: A Secret Alliance

Previous: Off The Case

"Was there any indication that
the flat had recently been cleaned?"
"B-b-but you're the sharpest detective who ever cracked a case," sputtered Buckingham Slate. "How could I possibly help you, sir?"

"Perhaps you have information that we would find valuable?" replied Sherlock Holmes. "Perhaps you would be willing to share?"

"Information pertaining to what, sir?" asked Slate.

"The case we have been discussing," replied Holmes.

"But you just told me you hadn't gone to any effort on this case, sir. Are you saying you're interested in solving it?"

"I said we had not gone to any effort on your behalf," said Holmes. "However, Dr. Watson and I happen to have an independent interest in the case. In fact, last Friday morning, just a few minutes before you arrived in Baker Street, we were examining this very interesting object."

Saying those words, my companion opened his briefcase, removed the red holdall and handed it to the Scotland Yard man. "You should have these as well," he added, giving Slate the tattered jacket and hat-wig-beard he had worn on his visit to our flat.

"Where did you get this bag?" asked Slate in amazement.

"We have our ways," replied my friend with half a wink in my direction. "We have also collected some very interesting information. But we don't have enough to force a breakthrough -- not yet. Your knowledge of the case, Bucky, should you choose to share it, could make a substantial difference to our investigation."

"Considering the length of time I was assigned to the investigation," said Slate, "I don't actually know very much about this case at all, sir. That's why I came to you in the first place. But I'll tell you what I know, if it will help you."

"It may help us a great deal," replied Holmes.

"I must trust to your discretion," said Slate, "and that of Dr. Watson."

"We may be compelled to use any information you provide," said Holmes, "but we would never reveal our sources."

Slate nodded in assent and Holmes continued, "Tell us what you know of the case, starting with the body, the bag and the flat."

"Well, sir, the body was found late on a Monday afternoon, just as I was finishing my shift. I was off for the next two days, and when I came back on the Thursday, I was surprised to find I'd been assigned to the case. By then the body had been removed, the flat was being examined by a forensics crew, and I was detailed to handle certain other aspects of the investigation. Most of what I know about the body, I've learned by reading other officers' reports. I would say the same about the bag and the flat, sir."

"And what do the reports say?" asked my friend.

"The body was unclothed, sir," replied Buckingham Slate, "and decomposing rapidly. No sign of alcohol, drugs or poison was found, and there was no mark upon the body, except for nearly matching bruises on both elbows.

"The bag was locked with a padlock, the keys to which were found inside the bag, under the body. There was no indication of forced entry to the flat, and no sign of struggle. It was a posh suite, sir, beautifully furnished. Nothing seemed to have been disturbed."

"Was there any indication that the flat had recently been cleaned?" asked Holmes.

"Yes, sir," answered Slate. "All the surfaces were spotless, except for a fine white powder on the counter tops in the kitchen and the bathroom. The powder was never identified, sir, but I suspect it may have been residue from a cleaning product. It suggests to me that the flat was cleaned very thoroughly, but somewhat hastily, after the body was put into the bag, after the bag was put into the bath.

"The flat was locked with a key from the outside, sir. This was no suicide, nor was there anything accidental about it. The first officers to arrive on the scene saw this clearly. One of them referred to the flat as 'a crime scene.' Another described it as 'a neat job' -- in other words, a very competent professional hit.

"But as I say, sir, all this is coming from written reports. I never saw any of these things for myself."

"What, if anything, did you see for yourself?" asked Sherlock Holmes.

"I can tell you all about it, sir," replied Buckingham Slate, "but I'm afraid you won't find much of it very interesting."

"I'd be grateful for any details," replied Holmes, "interesting or otherwise. I would also be grateful if you would keep us apprised of future developments."

"Well, I doubt there will be many of those," said Slate, "but I'll be happy to keep you posted if anything does transpire."

Thus began an alliance which neither Slate nor Holmes could ever acknowledge. Fortunately, my discretion was utterly reliable.

Chapter 39: Where He Bought His Dresses


"What aspects of the Gareth Williams case were you assigned to investigate?" asked Sherlock Holmes.

"I looked into some fascinating details," replied Buckingham Slate, "such as where he bought his dresses."

"Where he bought his dresses?" exclaimed Holmes.

"Yes, sir, and how he paid for them."

"Tell us all about it," said my friend.

"In the wardrobe of his flat were found six boxes of designer clothing, all for women. There were dresses, tops and shoes, all from big-name designers: Stella McCartney and so on. None of the pieces had ever been worn, or even unwrapped. All the buttons were still done up, all the packaging was still intact. The collection, though very small, was worth in the neighbourhood of fifteen or twenty thousand, sir.

"I had the honour of tracing the purchases, finding out where each item came from and how much it cost, how he paid for it all and when. Spellbinding details, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot see how any of this has any bearing on the case."

"You can't?" asked Holmes.

"No sir," replied Slate.

"Well, it may be nothing. Please continue," prodded Holmes.

"I was also part of a team that looked into his bank records, his travel history, and his telephone usage," Slate said. "We didn't find anything unusual, once we understood what we were looking at."

Holmes shot Slate a quizzical look and the Scotland Yard man explained. "We don't investigate many national security employees, sir. He traveled extensively, compared to ordinary people, and most of his expenses were looked after. So his finances didn't seem to match his lifestyle -- and 'red flags' were raised by several of my associates, who thought they were seeing serious discrepancies.

"But then an officer from MI6 explained how Gareth's rent was paid, and he gave us several other details which made all our red flags seem like false alarms, if you don't mind a mixed metaphor, sir."

"Not at all, Bucky," replied Holmes. "What else did you find out?"

"Everything seemed to be in order, sir. There was nothing unusual in the telephone records, and the bank history made sense eventually, as did the travel. 

"What other aspects did you look into?" asked Holmes.

"That was the extent of it, sir," replied Slate. "The investigation was -- or is! -- extremely fragmented."

"What do you mean by that, Bucky?"

"Well, sir, the case was assigned to the Homicide and Serious Crime Command; our officers have little or no security clearance. So we can't look into any work-related aspects of the dead man's life."

"Oh no?"

"No, sir, that's someone else's job. We're only police; we can't even talk to MI6 officers directly. We talk to an MI6 'liaison' man, who takes our questions and comes back with answers, eventually, maybe. Who's to know whether we can trust his answers? We can't check up on any of what he tells us.

"I'll give you an example of where this has hurt us, sir. We were curious -- well, some of us were curious -- about what Gareth Williams had been working on, at GCHQ for the past ten years, and at MI6 for the past twelve months. So we asked the 'liaison' man, and about three weeks later, after repeated questioning, he finally gave us a response. You know what he said? He said, 'I can't tell you.' And that was all. That was all he would say."

"Did you ever get a better answer to that question?" asked Holmes.

"No, sir," Slate responded. "But we did get a few 'hints,' none of which made any sense to us."

"Tell me about them anyway," said Holmes.

"We had it from an anonymous source, sir, that the intelligence people -- MI6 especially, I gather -- were quite annoyed that information concerning Gareth Williams' work history got into the press. This was very early on, and they responded, we think, with a barrage of disinformation."

Holmes cleared his throat.

"That is to say, sir," Slate said, "that they redoubled their nonsense. And I got thinking -- this is entirely unofficial, and speculative ..."

"Yes?"

"Maybe the earliest reports of Gareth's work were correct. Why else would they get so upset? Would MI6 panic if they saw lies in the papers about a subject on which they wanted the truth kept quiet? Hardly.

"So, just to satisfy my own curiosity, I did some research, sir. And I found out that the earliest published reports described Gareth Williams as a code-breaker, a genius who deciphered the codes by which terrorists plotting in England were communicating with their contact in Pakistan.

"Is this correct? I don't know. I did get the sense that these were the reports that made MI6 so nervous."

"Did you ever follow that up?" asked my friend.

"No sir," said Slate. "It was all very speculative, and against orders as well. I don't have clearance to second-guess MI6. So instead I went to the dress shops."

"Did you ever find out for whom the gifts were intended?" inquired Holmes.

"What gifts, sir?" replied Slate.

"The dresses that were still buttoned, in the packages that were never opened. Did you think he was intending to keep them for himself?"

"We didn't know what to think, sir," said Slate.

"Quite so," replied Holmes. "Indeed you didn't."

Chapter 40: To Shield The Killer


Detective Chief Inspector
Jackie Sebire
"There's no need to be snarky," I said, feeling badly for Bucky.

"It wasn't intended as snark," replied Sherlock Holmes. "It was simply a statement of fact."

"And it is a fact, Dr. Watson," added Slate. "No offense taken, sir. We really didn't know what to think. And unless I am mistaken, we weren't supposed to know."

"Can you explain?" asked Holmes.

Slate took a deep breath before continuing. "When I described the investigation as 'extremely fragmented,' I meant it in more than one sense, sir. Not only have we been denied access to intelligence circles, but we have also been hampered by conflicting leadership.

"Nominally the investigation is being run by DCI Jackie Sebire. She's a smooth one, sir; never seems to put a foot wrong, especially in public. But she is clearly out of her depth in this case, and appears to be poking around in the dark. She tends to say things like 'We remain completely open-minded as to the cause of death.' That's a politically correct way of admitting we don't know anything, sir, and of not compromising the investigation in any way.

"Ms. Sebire is being assisted -- or possibly undercut -- by DCI Hamish Campbell. He's Chief of Homicide at the Yard, sir, and not quite so smooth. In fact, he can be a bit of a bull sometimes. If he has a theory of a crime, he's not bashful about it. He can put his stamp on the investigation, and make it run in the direction he wants it to go.

Detective Chief Inspector
Hamish Campbell
"Mr. Campbell holds a somewhat different view of the case. He says things like 'This is not linked to his work - it's his private life.' Some of us have been wondering how he could know that, sir. We haven't really seen any evidence one way or another as to motive. So how can he be so sure?

"Early on, our leaders were clearly at cross-purposes, and since they were saying such different things, it began to seem as if one of them must be lying.

"But lately Ms. Sebire appears to be leaning more and more in Mr. Campbell's direction. So their public statements agree more than in the past, and there is less appearance of official duplicity. But what has it done to the investigation?"

"I was hoping you might tell me," replied Holmes.

"I can tell you a bit, sir," continued Slate. "I can't say I have a good overview, because my access has been limited. But from what I've seen, it looks as though they've already decided that nobody connected with MI6 could possibly be a suspect, presumably because, in their minds, MI6 couldn't possibly have been involved. How they 'know' this is anyone's guess, sir. But the impact on the investigation is very clear."

"In what way?" inquired my friend.

"They've been finding evidence that other people were in the flat, sir, not that it takes a genius to figure that part out. I mean, what could have happened? Did he lock himself in the holdall and then go out and lock the door to the flat from the outside? Or did he lock himself out, then break in without leaving any sign of it, and then lock himself in the holdall? No, sir, these explanations make no sense at all.

"So there must have been at least one other person in the flat at the critical moment, but who was it? If I were running the investigation, sir, I would want to find out as much as I could about who was there, and when, before I ruled out anything or anyone. I would view any person who had been in the flat recently with a modicum of suspicion, whether it was someone Gareth Williams knew from work or someone he had met elsewhere.

"But this is not the way things are being done by Ms. Sebire and Mr. Campbell. In their view, anyone who may have known Gareth through MI6 is 'accounted for' and not worthy of further consideration, so all the investigative resources that have been allocated to this case are being trained elsewhere.

"If in fact the killer was somehow connected to MI6, the investigation would never find him out, sir. He would never even be considered a suspect."

"Does it seem to you," asked Holmes, "that the investigation has been deliberately structured to shield the killer, rather than to unmask him?"

"I've never thought about it in just that way, Mr. Holmes," replied Slate. "But now that you've put it in such terms, I'd be hard-pressed to contradict you."

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)